How A High School Student Pulled Perhaps The Cruelest April Fool’s Joke On Record
A fake job listing fooled hundreds of down on their luck people in Chicago more than a century ago
For whatever reason, people still love the quasi holiday of April Fool’s Day. Most are content for making an obviously fake statement or over the top joke. Unfortunately, others aren’t content unless they do something elaborate, which runs the risk of being cruel to those who fall for it. One of the most devastating was a prank pulled by an unknown high school student in 1915.
John Witner was the principal of the high school in Maywood, a village in Chicago. He was working in his office on April 1, 1915 when an Italian immigrant in overalls carrying a shovel entered his office, indicating he was there to work. After the administrator expressed confusion and confirmed there were no open jobs, the man pulled out a newspaper and showed the reason why he had shown up. In black and white a wanted ad read:
“Wanted — 100 LABORERS. BRING SHOVELS; good pay. Apply High School, Room 9, 1st av. And Madison St., Maywood, bet. 9 and 10 a.m.”
The embarrassed principal did his best to explain that the poor man had been tricked; likely the result of an April Fool’s joke. However, in the…
